


A Friendly Word

by Thistlerose



Category: Firefly
Genre: F/M, Ficlet, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-06
Updated: 2012-02-06
Packaged: 2017-10-30 17:11:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/334101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thistlerose/pseuds/Thistlerose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mal is a little protective.<br/>Written in 2006.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Friendly Word

Kaylee shuffled the brochures. Her hair fell in her face, so Simon couldn’t see her expression. “So, any of these?”

“Any of them,” he said. “Whichever looks best to you.”

She tilted her head and the hair fell back. She was blushing. The sight sent a tingle through Simon’s belly, downward.

“Simon,” she said. “These restaurants…”

“What?”

“Well, they’re awful…”

“ _Awful_?”

“Awful _nice._ I mean…” She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, revealing the oil smudge on her cheek. “They look like the sort of place where you gotta know which fork is which, an’ all. An’ I don’t.”

Simon bit his lip. “I thought you didn’t care about things like that.”

“I don’t,” she said with a shrug. “It’s just…” Her gaze went back to the brochures. “This one looks nice.”

“Which one?” he asked, leaning closer to look over her shoulder.

“This one. Lookit that cake. Now _that_ ’s a cake. Bet it ain’t made of proteins an’ whatnot.”

“No, that’s real chocolate.”

“And those’re real strawberries?”

“Yep.”

He felt the sigh go through her.

“Kaylee,” he said softly, touching her arm. “I’m not – I didn’t bring you those because I want to…I don’t know… I’m not trying to change you. I like – I _love_ that you’re…you. It’s just that…for your birthday, I want…” He pointed helplessly at the brochure. “This is some of the best chocolate in the ‘verse. I want you to have it. Not just that. I want someone to serve it to you on a crystal platter. I want you fawned over. Because—”

She turned around and pushed the brochures at him. “Guess you got yerself a date, then.” She kissed his cheek. “Comin’ to my room?”

“In a minute. I need to—”

“I’ll see you in a minute.” She kissed him again and then, smiling, left him.

Simon started in the opposite direction. He hadn’t gone four paces when he bumped into Mal.

The captain’s smile was quite different from Kaylee’s. “Well, Doctor…”

“Well, sir,” he said and braced himself. Not that Mal Reynolds’ opinion of his relationship with Kaylee was of any importance. Then he thought, why wait for the insults? Why not head them off, since he knew they were coming? “Look sir,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest, “if you’re going to tell all about the dire consequences I’ll face if I ever hurt her—”

To his chagrin, Mal laughed. “Dire consequences? You mean, am I gonna kill you if you hurt our Kaylee? Hell, no.”

Simon did not relax.

“I ain’t gonna kill you. You hurt Kaylee, she’ll be the one that kills you. I’ll watch. And I’ll probably laugh.”

Simon flushed. “I thought you needed my services.”

“Don’t deny I do,” said Mal, clapping him on the shoulder. “My crew’s got an unfortunate tendency to bleed. But I _like_ her." The clap became a grip.

"I don't intend to hurt Kaylee," said Simon stiffly. "Ever. _I_ like her, too." He might have said then that he _more_ than liked Kaylee, but he reckoned the first person to hear that ought to be Kaylee herself.

"Well, then." Mal released his shoulder. His lips quirked. "Reckon everything's shiny. Have fun. Bring me one of them mint things. The little swirly ones in the plastic."

"Er. Right." Simon waited until the captain had gone. Then, having forgotten what it was he'd meant to do – it couldn't have been important – he turned and hurried after Kaylee.

6/29/06


End file.
